Decision details

Approval of bids from Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to Round 2 of Levelling Up Fund

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Decisions:

                  Approval was sought for the four priority bids for submission into Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund.

 

                  Authorisation was also sought to establish an Assurance Panel for the purposes of assuring Levelling Up Fund bid proposals.

 

The Chair of the Children’s Services and Education Scrutiny Board stated that members of the Board were briefed on the proposals for the Youth Facility in West Bromwich and welcomed the proposals. The Chair highlighted that all Councillors were not engaged in the consultation process and scrutiny was denied an opportunity to discuss Sandwell’s youth offer. It was asked whether further consultation in relation to youth services would involve members in future.

 

In response, the Cabinet Member of Regeneration and Growth stated that the timescales for officers for the business cases were extremely tight. Various projects were brought to the Economy Skills Transport and Environment Scrutiny Board. Furthermore, prior to submission, project information was provided at a town level. Despite this, officers were working to improve the consultation process.

 

The Chair of the Safer Neighbourhoods and Active Communities Scrutiny Board questioned why consultation took place after projects were formed and whether projects would reflect residents’ views.  In response, it was reported that that officers had attended all town meetings. Timescales meant that officers had four months to put together the priorities and business cases. Further to this, another challenge was reconciling MP’s views with Councillor’s views to agree on the priority. While there would be a significant amount of opportunity to engage with Councillors in shaping the details of the proposals, it was accepted that the consultation process could be improved in the future.   The process set by Government entailed MP’s signing off the bids which made it difficult for officers to engage in a consultation process. Going forward, Sandwell needed to be ahead of timescales for the next round of bids to ensure the full process could be conducted.

 

                  Reasons for recommendations

The Levelling Up Fund Guidance stated that bid submissions were to becompliant with the HM Treasury Green Book (2020), which entailed projects having a Full Business Case (FBC) which address five cases; Strategic, Economic, Commercial, Financial and Management.

 

Under the proposed LUF Assurance Panel model, the Strategic Investment Unit would undertake a review of the financial case of each bid, on the basis that the Full Business Cases had been prepared by a specialist consultant. That specialist consultant would be required to present the Full Businesses Cases to the Assurance Panel for consideration.

Should the panel accept the proposal, they would then have delegated authority from Cabinet to submit those bid proposals.

 

Alternative options considered

The alternative option would be to keep the existing assurance arrangements contained within the Financial Regulations, but this would create a risk that the submission deadline of noon 6 July 2022 would not be achieved. The LUF investments were critical to addressing a range of

issues and delivering real improvements in the Borough.

 

Agreed:-

 

(1)     that approval be given to the following four priority bids for submission into Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund:

·      Tipton Town Centre, Tipton (West Bromwich West)

·      Haden Hill Leisure Centre, Rowley Regis (Halesowen & Rowley Regis)

·      Grove Lane, Smethwick (Warley)

·      Youth Provision Facility, West Bromwich (West Bromwich East;


 

 

(2)     that the Director of Finance be authorised to allocate adequate resources from the Council’s Housing Revenue Account, subject to being satisfied that the proposal provides value for money, to deliver the scheme designs and enable the agreed Homes England delivery programme to be met utilising grant funding offered under the extended Homes England Strategic Partnership 1 Programme 2016 to 2021;

 

(3)     that the Director of Finance be authorised to sign and submit the Levelling Up funding applications and any necessary ancillary documentation for the maximum value of £80m;

 

(4)     that approval be given to make an exemption from the Council’s Financial Regulations to enable Resolution (1) and (2) above;

 

(5)     that the Director of Finance be authorised to identify the minimum 10% match funding contribution to the Levelling Up Fund programme up to the maximum value of £8,000,000 through a combination of funding sources, including Council-owned assets and Prudential Borrowing;

 

(6)     that the Director of Law & Governance be authorised to enter into or execute under seal funding agreements or necessary ancillary documentation for the receipt of the funding, on terms to be agreed in collaboration with the Director of Regeneration & Growth and the Director of Finance;

 

(7)     that the Director of Finance in consultation with the Director of Housing and the Director of Regeneration & Growth be authorised to appropriate assets from the HRA to the General Fund, or vice versa, that fall within the scope of the bids in order to meet the match funding contribution for the Levelling Up Fund and adjust the accounts accordingly.

 

                  [Councillor Carmichael left the room at this point.  Councillor Piper subsequently took the Chair]

 

Publication date: 23/06/2022

Date of decision: 22/06/2022

Decided at meeting: 22/06/2022 - Cabinet

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